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Vietnam vets deserve thanks

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In contrast to the proud anniversaries of World War II by the greatest generation, their children, the baby boomers are not clamoring to celebrate the anniversaries of the Vietnam War.

These are painful memories in many cases.

Vietnam was America's longest war and tore at the national fabric like no other event since the Civil War.

While the events of the Vietnam War may not be cause for celebration, the people who fought the battles deserve our gratitude.

Veterans fought an unpopular war, yet often returned to derision. There were few parades. Many just wanted to forget. Some of the bitterness remains.

We look for wisdom to perhaps our greatest president: "With malice toward none; with charity toward all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan  to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."  Abraham Lincoln.